Our Congolese Adoption

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Brody is 2!

I'm blogging with two boys asleep on my lap. It's about the most heart-melting thing you'll ever experience...to have your kids willingly curl up in your arms and snuggle. And to get both of them there at the same time?! It truly melts my heart (partly because I'm pretty sure all three of us are sweating, but whatev).

Couple of exciting things happened this past weekend. 1- Brad and I, along with my cousin and her husband and about 1,500 of our closest, crazy friends, ran in The Gladiator Mud Run. Definitely the most exciting thing I've done without the littles in a while. At what other time in a woman's life is it completely ok to play in the mud and look downright silly climbing ropes and walls, then run up and down major hills for no good reason?! Never! So I lived it up and enjoyed every muddy second.

After the run. Yes, I'm kissing the medal like a boss (or a nerd).

Last week I tweeted that I was "about to go all 'here comes the boom' and start cage fighting to raise funds for adoption." Well, I would also mud wrestle or mud race as a fundraiser (not that anyone would pay money to see any of that, but hey, it would be fun stress relief for me!) I feel like my background as the youngest and the only girl in my family and as a former athlete (notice: former) would make me somewhat decent at any of those activities. Maybe?? Probably not.

Anyway, on to the other exciting weekend event: Brody turned two. (What?!) I took a memory trip back to the days before we even knew about him, all the way back to the phone call on Saturday morning that changed everything:
Social Worker: Hi, Brad? This is so-and-so. I have news for you.
Brad: Yes...
SW: We showed your profile to a birth mom; did you know that?
Brad: No. (We had just gotten approved a few days before.)
SW: Well, we did, and she chose you!
Brad: Really? When's the baby due?
SW: He was born Wednesday. Can you talk to the birth mom and then meet the birth mom and myself in Kentucky on Monday? If she carries through and chooses you, you'll probably be able to get the baby Tuesday.

And so it began...they sent us a pic of Brody, along with his stats, and I made sure to tell everyone not to get too attached because nothing was certain yet, while all along in my heart I knew that from that first picture of him, I had fallen in love and that this boy was our son.

That first picture that made me fall in love.

After a nerve-racking meeting with Brody's birthmom, we entered swiftly into the world of diapers and bottles and sleepless nights (and DNA testing and courtrooms and crying and pleading with God for miracles...and boy, did he ever deliver and write a whopper of an adoption story for us!)

Brody is such an amazing little man. He speaks in full sentences (when he wants to, of course), counts to ten (and tries to get to 20), sings a few different hilarious versions of "Twinkle Twinkle," is obsessed with hunting bows, golf, baseball, and basketball (and his cousin Addyson), is full of energy, and has huge blue eyes with long eyelashes that flutter when he smiles (particularly when he's gotten into my purse and stolen gum --rascal!--).

Bro got some Superman and Batman PJs for his birthday. (LOVES THEM.) As if he needed another excuse to jump off the furniture!

I can't imagine life without him, and we continually thank God that his birth mom made a great decision for his life despite the many obstacles and pressures she faced.